Mazda Eunos Roadster: PH Fleet

Dan's Eunos returns from the paint shop - was it worth the investment?

Whether your car cost £1,250 like my Eunos or £1.25m, spending a multiple of any purchase price on having it done up is never a decision to be taken lightly. Dropping the car off at Deepcar Autobodies was a bit of a giddy experience and seeing the work in progress underlined quite how extensive the job had become. But sitting on a Sheffield Supertram en route to Deepcar with my credit card trembling in my pocket the realities of actually paying for the work were beginning to hit home. Possibly belatedly.

You're now going to ask how much. And I'm not going to tell you. Mainly because as well as multiples of the car's cost it's also multiples of what I told Mrs Trent it would be. If you're reading this, dear, then don't worry, Mk1 MX-5s are the next air-cooled 911s in terms of investment value and that there is our pension. I'm sure of it, even if it's more beans on toast in a bedsit than caviar on crostini in a beachside villa.

Surprisingly hard finding a good bodyshop, isn't it? Over my years with the car I've popped by a couple here and there to see about getting some of its scrattier aspects tidied up. Nobody seemed interested, even with the promise of, y'know, payment. One told me it was a complete waste of his time, but seemed to have enough on his hands to walk slowly round the car and tell me, panel by panel, exactly how rubbish the paintwork was in a vintage display of 'who done that?' disdain.

I get the impression Dave and the guys at Deepcar do it for the love as much as anything though. While not cheap I'm more than satisfied I got value for the money invested in the car, and the fact they're booked until the end of the year shows how in demand their services are. And the way they approached the job demonstrates why it's always worth hunting out specialists for work like this.

I've had the car back a week now and every time I poke and prod around it I find another little thing they've done. It might be the fresh new bolts holding the front bumper and only exposed when the lights are up, that they put shiny new door catches on or fact they dug out a new bit of carpet and a battery clamp when they were tidying up the boot suggests the kind of attention to detail only people who really know and love the cars would be bothered about. I didn't ask them to do it but they even wire-brushed and Waxoyled the suspension arms and coated the inside of the wheelarches with stone chip protection too, hopefully helping my rust-free car stay that way in the years to come. Dave sourced a secondhand hood to replace the one with the frayed rear window he'd taken off, the door cappings are new and from front to back (and even underneath) the car looks absolutely brilliant.

Basically, you get the impression that once they've got a car apart they start doing stuff like this just because it would offend their sensibilities to put a rusty bolt back in alongside shiny new panels or not replace the sound deadening material inside the boot or whatever other myriad little things they did along the way. OK, so the final bill came in a little heftier than I'd prepared myself for. But I don't begrudge any of it.

I even like the return of the Eunos badge on the nose, though it does present a dilemma on where to put my stick-on plate. I think I'll source some proper badges for the back too. So much for the new-found enthusiasm for originality - what about the much-derided orange wheels? They're staying orange for now, mainly because they seem to really wind people up and that amuses my more belligerent side!

Does the expenditure add up though? It's interesting to see a search for NA MX-5s on PH now returns just 29 cars, the first dozen of which are over £5K and within that number a selection of super low-mileage examples for more than double that. I'm amused to see you can still buy a basic silver Eunos like mine for little over a grand but I can't help thinking that the days of the cheap early Eunos or MX-5 are not long with us.

Of course, in monetary terms it's is only worthwhile if you make a return on it. Which would mean selling it, something I have no intention of doing. Money's money; the return on the emotional investment is already being realised though. There's a McLaren outside my house too. But my little Mazda is getting all my attention at the moment.

In fact, the sun is out. I'm off for a drive.

FACT SHEET
Car: 1993 Eunos Roadster (JDM import model)
Run by: Dan Trent
Bought: January 2011
Mileage: Hopefully some more now the weather is looking better!
Purchase price: £1,250
Last month at a glance: Eunos gleaming, credit card reeling

Previous reports:
The answer to everything?
More exhaust noise? Don't mind if I do...
Skidfoolery at Silverstone on the eco tyres
Er, more skidfoolery at Silverstone on the eco tyres!
Hibernation? Not for this Eunos!
Sell it? Nah, I'll just drive it, ta
Spring comes along and heating mechanism packs up
Skids on hold as LSD bites the dust
Eunos out of hiding and expenditure looms
To the paint shop!
Issue with rear quarter
Stripped and ready for paint